Watson is getting its data-analyzing hands into everything. From health care to food science, IBM's "cognitive supercomputer" — who won Jeopardy
more than three years ago — is taking on the intellectual heavy lift of
sifting through enormous amounts of data, so humans don't have to.
One area where it's just getting started is law enforcement, where
Watson's data-processing abilities have enormous potential to speed up
investigations, which generate thousands of pages of paperwork. The
computer can process those documents in the time it took to read this
sentence, potentially giving detectives the best actionable leads much
faster than before.

But Watson could have an even greater impact in the way law enforcement itself is carried out. The police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked national discussion about police overreaction, racial profiling and the militarization of law enforcement.
There was rancor and rhetoric, to be sure, but a lot of smart and
informed people also ventured into the debate. Still, there's no one who
could know all the relevant data to give the best insights on those topics.

The cognitive cop

No one except Watson, that is. At an IBM event to showcase the fields
where Watson is making a difference, Roberto Villaseñor, chief of
police in Tuscon, Ariz., cited Ferguson as a good example where Watson
can sort things out.

"When we have a significant event, we have a formal board of
enquiry," Villaseñor explained. "We try and determine: Are we doing the
best we can in that situation? But because we're human, that limits the
amount of information we can gather.

Cognitive computing can come up with a lot more information to review, digest and possibly incorporate.

Cognitive computing can come up with a lot more information to review, digest and possibly incorporate."
Villaseñor is one of the backers of IBM's CopLink
software on the police side, which is already helping with data
analysis. He cited a specific investigation that's generated a mountain
of paperwork: an abduction of a 6-year-old child in Tuscon right out of
her home.

Counting just the documents related directly to the case — including
police reports, statements, lab results and more — there are 15,000
pages to go through. When you factor in things such as outside agency
reports that might be relevant, the backgrounds of people involved and
information online, pages can easily get into the tens of thousands.

Villaseñor is hopeful that Watson and cognitive computing systems
like it, which have just begun to touch the law-enforcement space, will
be able to process all that information, and give investigators real
leads faster.

"There may be something in lead no. 25 that doesn't make sense until
you get to lead no. 2,050," Villaseñor said. "How is a human going to
tie those things together? Cognitive computing can. But we still have to
look at it. It cannot be a computer or a human analysis. It has to be and. We say, 'Watson said this — let's go check it out.'"

He also would like to see that computational power directed against
the bigger police issues being debated right now over Ferguson and other
flashpoints in law-enforcement. The situation in Ferguson has led to an
at-times heated discussion about what's wrong with law enforcement,
particularly in black urban communities, which Villaseñor said has led
to a lot of misinformation spreading.
"There are a lot of theories being thrown out in the news media," he
said. "Being able to trudge through all the information and data, and
put out accurate information, as opposed to speculation or analysis
based on speculation and supposed truth that's being put out through
third-party hearsay ... you need to filter through that."

Big data for big solutions

Villaseñor is being a little unfair. Most of the commentators on
Ferguson cite some statistics or studies to support their point of view.
But the idea of cognitive computing would be to apply the computational
power of an entity that can digest all of the relevant data.
Watson could gobble up every relevant case, statistic and incident
regarding law enforcement in minority communities in its effort to come
up with solutions.

Take the issue of police militarization. There are records for what
equipment was sold to which agencies and departments, how those tools
are deployed and how they've been used. However, for a human to study
the issue, they'd have to do most of the legwork of assembling the
relevant data themselves, even with computers — a process that could
take months.

Get Watson on the case, and it'll find the right stuff to look at no matter how deep it's buried — in considerably less time.

Get Watson on the case, and it'll find the right stuff to look at no matter how deep it's buried — in considerably less time.
But it's not effortless; programmers will need to be rigorous about how
they define exactly what they want Watson to look for. But once that's
done, finding all the relevant data, usually a tedious and lengthy
process, will be the easy part. Fixing the relationship between police and minority communities will
never be as easy as putting a bunch of data in a computer, hitting
"Process" and waiting for The Answer to pop up. But Villaseñor hopes the
power of cognitive computing could at least point law enforcement in
the right direction.
"There are mounds of information out there that we're going to need
help sorting through to help us not necessarily answer the question, but
at least define the problem," Villaseñor said. "We need to get the
data-driven information, and not go with anecdotal information because
there's a lot of emotion behind it. We need to try and get past the
emotion and find the truth. It may be bad, but we need to find out what
it is so we can adjust."Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics:
Apps and Software, cognitive computing, Protests in Ferguson, Missouri , IBM, Tech, U.S., watson

Entertainment

Jennifer Lawrence and Other Celebs Hacked as Nude Images Circulate on the Web

UPDATE: 9:20 p.m. ET: A number of Twitter
accounts posting uncensored photos of Jennifer Lawrence pictured nude
have been suspended. When contacted by Mashable, a Twitter spokesperson
would not offer comment on the deletion of the accounts in relation to
the stolen images, but did point us to the service's rules page.

Additionally,
a spokesperson for Ariana Grande has reportedly denied the authenticity
of the nude images of the singer included in the list of hacked
celebrities being leaked online, calling the photos "completely fake,"
in an email to BuzzFeed.
A major trove of celebrity images, some including images alleged to
be actress Jennifer Lawrence nude, began spreading all over the web and
Twitter on Sunday evening.

Early word of the images began spreading on 4Chan earlier in the day,
where posters claimed that the images were the result of a hacker
intrusion on a number of iCloud accounts and cell phones and that the
images included nude celebrities such as Victoria Justice, Emily
Browning, Kate Bosworth, Jenny McCarthy and Kate Upton.

When contacted by Mashable, a spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence issued the following statement:

This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities
have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen
photos of Jennifer Lawrence.

Most of
those named in the list haven't commented publicly, but actress Mary
Elizabeth Winstead did take to Twitter to react to having her images
taken in the hack:

To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in
the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves.
— Mary E. Winstead (@M_E_Winstead) August 31, 2014

Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the
creepy effort that went into this. Feeling for everyone who got hacked.
— Mary E. Winstead (@M_E_Winstead) August 31, 2014

However, at least one of the alleged victims of the hack has also
taken to Twitter to dispute the authenticity of the images. Victoria
Justice wrote via Twitter: "These so called nudes of me are FAKE people.
Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*"

These so called nudes of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*
— Victoria Justice (@VictoriaJustice) August 31, 2014

But contrary to the Twitter message from Justice, the above statement
from Lawrence's spokesperson, as well as Winstead's comment, appear to
confirm the authenticity of at least some of the images being
circulated.
Apple didn't not offer an official response when contacted by Mashable for comment on the incident. This story is developing… Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics:
Entertainment

Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Could Lose Accreditation in 2017

Due to by-law changes established by
the Higher Learning Commission in 2012, the school is exploring
alternative options for remaking the school, which dates back to 1932.

One of the buildings at Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture's main campus.

Credit: Greg O'Beirne/Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons license

The
Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture faces accreditation loss in
2017, due to new rules instated by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC),
a Chicago-based regional accrediting body. HLC accreditation is
required by the National Architectural Accrediting Board, the agency
that evaluates all U.S. master's degree programs in the field.

HLC
adopted by-law changes in 2012, stating that accredited institutions
must be separately incorporated from sponsoring organizations, which
HLC’s public information officer John Hausaman describes as “not an
atypical expectation for an institution of higher education.” The Frank
Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, which includes campuses at Taliesin
West Scottsdale, Ariz., and Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisc., is part of
the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which also runs the two Taliesins, and helps maintain collections of Wright’s work.

HLC’s
by-law changes require the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture to
file for incorporation as an institution with a primary purpose of
offering higher education. HLC has offered the school a two to
three-year time frame for it to make the change necessary to meet the
requirement. Now, it is up to the school to decide whether or not to
make that change.
The school, which dates its history back to the
establishment of the Taliesin Fellowship in 1932, earned accreditation
in 1992. It was put on notice by HLC in June 2005, and again in November
2010, for issues related to governance. “Notice provides the
opportunity for institutions to correct issues that could possibly lead
them to be out of compliance with our standards,” Hausaman says.
Frank
Lloyd Wright Foundation president and CEO Sean Malone broke the news to
the school’s 20 students yesterday. All currently enrolled students
will be able to complete their accredited education with the current
program.

“The Foundation is deeply disappointed by this
determination, which means that, starting sometime in 2017 or later, the
School of Architecture will no longer be able to independently offer a
Master of Architecture degree,” says Malone in a press release,
mentioning that the school has been working for over a year on a “robust
post-professional program” that would not require HLC accreditation.
The
statement goes on to say that the school is exploring other programs
that “could meet critical needs in the fields of architecture and design
that the Foundation would be uniquely positioned to meet.” It is also
investigating potential academic partnerships with other accredited
institutions that might allow the school to continue to offer an M.Arch.
degree beyond 2017.

“Frank Lloyd Wright himself started the
Taliesin Fellowship to challenge normative educational models, not to
emulate them,” says Malone. “In this spirit, the Board and staff of the
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation had committed to ‘remaking’ the Frank
Lloyd Wright School of Architecture well before this HLC decision.”

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About Me

New Trier High School, Winnetka Illinois.... cancer survivor...NYU Grad School of Film and TV...Film Editor....Training Audio/Visual Writer for US Coast Guard...audio visual producer and public relations writer..had some pretty awful bumps along the way (haven't we all) --glad to still be around and in touch with so many friends from the past